DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61902#0239
THE MAKERS OF FLORENCE.
219
mistaken way by the Torquemados, who have brought
St. Dominic to evil fame. For Christ, and Christ alone,
counting no cost; thinking of nothing but how to conquer
the world for Him ; conceiving of no advance but by the
spreading of His kingdom—yet, alas ! with only every
individual’s narrow human notion of what that kingdom
was, and what the way of spreading it. In Florence,
happily, at that moment, the reformed Dominicans, in the
warmth of their revival, could accept the blazon of their
order, thus set forth, with all their hearts. They had
renewed their dedication of themselves to that perpetual
preaching of Christ’s sacrifice and imitation of His self-
renunciation which was the highest meaning of their vows;
and no doubt each obscure father, each musing humble
novice in his white gown, felt a glow of rapt enthusiasm
as he watched the new picture grow into life, and found
in the profound belief of the holy founder of his order at
once the inspiration and reflection of his own.
The other little pictures in this cloister which are pure
Angelico are entirely conventual, addressed to the brethren,
as was natural in this, the center of their common exist-
ence. Peter Martyr, one of their most distinguished
saints, stands over one doorway, finger on lip suggesting
the silence that befitted a grave community devoted to the
highest studies and reflections. Over another door are two
Dominican brethren, receiving (it is the guest-chamber of
the monastery) the Redeemer Himself, worn with travel,
to their hospitable shelter. Curiously enough, the beautiful,
gentle, young traveler, with his pilgrim’s hat falling from
his golden curls, which is the best representation ourgentle
Angelico could make—always angelical, like his name—of
the Lord of life, might almost have served as model for
that other beautiful, gentle, young peasant, Christ, whom
another great painter, late in this nineteenth century, has
given forth to us as all he knows of the central figure
219
mistaken way by the Torquemados, who have brought
St. Dominic to evil fame. For Christ, and Christ alone,
counting no cost; thinking of nothing but how to conquer
the world for Him ; conceiving of no advance but by the
spreading of His kingdom—yet, alas ! with only every
individual’s narrow human notion of what that kingdom
was, and what the way of spreading it. In Florence,
happily, at that moment, the reformed Dominicans, in the
warmth of their revival, could accept the blazon of their
order, thus set forth, with all their hearts. They had
renewed their dedication of themselves to that perpetual
preaching of Christ’s sacrifice and imitation of His self-
renunciation which was the highest meaning of their vows;
and no doubt each obscure father, each musing humble
novice in his white gown, felt a glow of rapt enthusiasm
as he watched the new picture grow into life, and found
in the profound belief of the holy founder of his order at
once the inspiration and reflection of his own.
The other little pictures in this cloister which are pure
Angelico are entirely conventual, addressed to the brethren,
as was natural in this, the center of their common exist-
ence. Peter Martyr, one of their most distinguished
saints, stands over one doorway, finger on lip suggesting
the silence that befitted a grave community devoted to the
highest studies and reflections. Over another door are two
Dominican brethren, receiving (it is the guest-chamber of
the monastery) the Redeemer Himself, worn with travel,
to their hospitable shelter. Curiously enough, the beautiful,
gentle, young traveler, with his pilgrim’s hat falling from
his golden curls, which is the best representation ourgentle
Angelico could make—always angelical, like his name—of
the Lord of life, might almost have served as model for
that other beautiful, gentle, young peasant, Christ, whom
another great painter, late in this nineteenth century, has
given forth to us as all he knows of the central figure